HIGH RENT KEEPS PEOPLE HOMELESS

One main contribution to homelessness in the United States is the accessibility to affordable housing for low income households. 

In Oregon on average a person working a minimum wage job would need to work 84 hours a week to afford a two bedroom apartment. There is not one county in the U.S where a minimum full time job could afford a two bedroom apartment without it taking more than three fourths of their income. 

To give this some context if a single parent were to work a full time minimum wage job they wouldn't
be able to afford housing where they and their child would be able to have separate rooms.

While there are about 143,000 affordable housing units available in Oregon for families who make less than $33,000 annually, there are more than 250,000 Oregon families who are in this situation. 

This also doesn't even include that 15% of all Oregonians are in a income bracket to be eligible for some type of housing assistance, meaning that over 3,000,000 people in Oregon could benefit from Housing and Urban Development housing but only around 574,661 people actually get those housing benefits.
The housing market is already a prevalent problem in Oregon the gap between affordability and wages is only increasing. Housing rate are still rising faster than wages are increasing making the future even less accessible for the next generation. 

These were also just some of the statistics are from before the recent Covid-19 pandemic and before this recent pandemic the homeless population was actually on the decline in Oregon and specifically Portland, but with many businesses having to close their doors and thousands of Oregonians losing their jobs within the last two years the homeless population in Oregon has increased at a more rapid and prevalent rate.

For more information explore these links.

Housing Oregon

Rental Data

Resources:

HUD Rental Assistance

Oregon Housing Assistance

Image Reference 

Post by: Marcy Huteson